[QUOTE=Mark in Idaho;1258586]mfurest,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. I am so sorry to hear what you and your hubby are going through. It appears he works in agriculture.

We live in a very rural area on 80 acres. My husband is a contractor who previously had his own business. He moved up to the Upper Peninsula about 8 years ago to live on the family property with his son. He does side jobs here and there, but mainly is the caretaker of the family property. He was out on the tractor on the back of the 80 acres clearing downed trees from the trails. He approached a tree that he thought was completely down, but it was still attached. When he pushed it out of the trail with the bucket of the tractor, the tree sprung back and over the bucket and struck him in the side of the face.


He was not knocked unconscious. He was able to get the tree off of the tractor and drive the mile back to the house. When he entered the house, he told me to call 911. To me, it appeared he just had a little road rash on his cheek. However, once the ambulance arrived and took us to the local hospital (30 min away) they informed me that his left cheekbone, orbital bone, and sinus cavity were all crushed. He had also broken his jaw in three places. They gave me the choice to have him transferred to Marquette or Traverse City. Then, an ambulance took us to T.C. We stayed there for two weeks, they reconstructed his face with titanium, and he was good as new, or so we thought.



It sounds like he suffered a left frontal lobe injury with the personality changes that come with that. Yes, this is the new him but it can be endured.

Yes, we have been told frontal lobe injury. We are still adapting to the new him. I think the hardest part is prior to the injury e was the classic textbook definition of ADHD. Now, his energy and motivation are just gone.

My first question is simple. How does he sleep? More specifically, does he breath smoothly and regularly when he sleeps? Proper sleep can be a big challenge. Without all of the full stages of sleep, fatigue will be a problem.

He sleeps...but never too soundly. One complication is that since we live in a rural area in the middle of the woods, we heat with two wood stoves in our home. So he is up a few times a night to feed the stove. That is one of our concerns as he begins Neurontin. The doctor prescribed 1800 milligrams. He wants me to administer 900 at dinner and 900 at bedtime. We are a little Leary after reading posts about the meds just making people. completely out of it. He wants to start with a smaller dose. Tonight, I gave him 300 at dinner and he wants 300 at bedtime. We will see how it goes.

Second, Read the sticky at the top about Vitamins. His injured brain needs extra nutrition to handle the many stresses a weak brain has to endure. The vitamin regimen on the first post has a link to an updated later post. The most important vitamins are the B-50 Complex, plenty of B-12. They are needed to strengthen the blood brain barrier that protects the brain from the body's toxins. Omega 3 fish oil is also very beneficial. Magnesium (citrate or other non mag oxide forms)

I agree with your concern about the Neurontin and Cymbalta. I've been on Neurontin for 16 years. I only take 150 mgs to help with sleep, muscle tension, jitters, active mind. I was on an SSRI for 14 years but finally got off it. I do much better without it. You may not like his 'not depressed' personality on Cymbalta.

I am going to pick up the Cymbalta tomorrow from the store. I am a little nervous, but he is so clinically depressed, that it is really impacting everyone in the house. Sex life? ugh...depressing. His love for all the things he used to like to do even if he has the energy to do them? Not around. How long does it take to see a difference with Cymbalta? He was on Lexapro, but we saw no change. The Dr. told us that sometimes with TBI, antidepressants don't work well...so we are eager to try, but we are not sold on the idea that this is the only way to fix this.



Head impact like your hubby suffered often have a neck injury component. This can be a problem. It can effect sleep (poor sleep posture), breathing, blood pressure, slowed pulse, and more.

Yes, there is a neck injury component to this big time. The brain injury clinic told us the neck is prob what is causing the nerve pain in his face. Although, it could also be due to the reconstruction in that side of his face. He gets a lot of pain around the eye where his orbital bone was reconstructed. He describes it as a constant feeling of immense pressure...like someone is grabbing at your face and either pushing in or out with 20 lbs of force...if that makes sense.